Roger Federer's No. 1 In Line Next: Cincinnati Masters & US Open

(Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)

On the one hand, you have Cincinnati Masters going on, and, on the other, Roger Federer's No.1 position could be on the line come US Open. It happened to Rafael Nadal, who lost his No. 1 on July 6 and No. 2 on August 17 this year, within a month and half. I am trying to find a balance here between "could be happening" and "is happening," so bear with me. 

To begin with historical facts, only Michael Chang ('93, '94) and Andre Agassi ('95, '96) have defended Cincinnati Masters. Andy Roddick (2003) and Patrick Rafters (1998) are the only players to win Canada, Cincinnati Masters, and US Open in the same year, since the Master Series came into existence in 1990. Andre Agassi in 1995 and Patrick Rafter in 1998 also achieved the feat of winning Canada and Cincinnati masters back-to-back. That year, Agassi won Washington, Canada, Cincinnati, New Haven, but lost in the USO final to Pete Sampras. Rafter won Canada, Cincinnati, Long Island, and US Open (losing New Heaven in between).

With that, the first section ponders over how the Cincinnati draw has shaped up for the top four seeds after three days since the tournament kicked off. Then, in the remainder, after an attempt to lay out the five statistical scenarios in which Andy Murray has a shot at taking over the No. 1 mantle by the end of the US Open, I have compiled Murray and Federer's exchange of oral jabs at each other, which started in 2008, Dubai.

Federer

Federer is the top seed in Cincinnati for a tournament record sixth time.

After Roddick's straight set loss to fellow American Sam Querrey on Wednesday, Murray is the only hottest player in Federer's half. Although the draw looked tough at the beginning, it is shaping up nicely for the Swiss, who beat Jose Acasuso, in the opening round, without dropping a set and without getting a service broken.  In the third round, Federer will face David Ferrer (Federer leads 8-0), who defeated Marin Cilic on Tuesday evening.

In the quarterfinals, Federer will play the winner of Querrey and Lleyton Hewitt, who defeated Robin Soderling in a close contest on Tuesday.

Murray has been fearless and possesses a better head-to-head match records against the Swiss, 6-2, including the last four times on hard court.

Is Federer going to be motivated enough to level his head- to-head meetings with Murray, or at least see where the Scott's game is?

Recently, Federer fans have not been too happy about his lack of motivation to win the Masters tournaments, compared to majors. At this stage of his career, should he be more motivated about the Masters? His wins at the Masters right before the Slams have produced some good results in the past, but they are not any indicator for his performance in the Slams. He won Madrid Masters right before winning the French Open this year and he won Cincinnati Masters in 2007 right before the US Open. But he has won more Slams without winning a Masters that lead to the Slams. One could say Federer is just a Slam monster, so he may not need motivation from winning a Master series.

In an interview on Wednesday, Federer looked into the future.

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